THE Joint Select Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme will hold a public hearing on Thursday, March 11, 2021.

The committee will hear from Redress Support Services and an institutional child sexual abuse survivor.

Among other things, the committee wants to better understand how Redress Support Services are engaging with the National Redress Scheme across Australia and what can be done to improve survivor engagement with the scheme.

"Redress Support Services across Australia must walk alongside survivors," committee chair Senator Dean Smith said.

"The committee wants to learn from Redress Support Services about how the scheme can better respond to survivor needs, and what steps the National Redress Scheme can take to increase participation in the Scheme."

Public hearing program

Date: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Time: 11am–2.10pm AEDT
Location: Teleconference

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live and public hearing programs will be available at the committee website prior to the hearing.

ends

THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works will scrutinise a $24.8 million proposal from Airservices Australia to refurbish the Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport Tower at a public hearing on Thursday, March 11, 2021.

The inquiry into the Airservices Australia, Sydney Airport Tower Refurbishment Project will examine the need for the Sydney Tower to undergo a series of mechanical, structural and electrical upgrades while remining fully operational. Under the proposal, the current generation technology will be upgraded to new Integrated Tower Automation Suite (INTAS) technology.

Public hearing details

Date: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Time: 2pm to 3pm (AEDT)
Location: via teleconference

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

ends

ON THURSDAY 11 and Friday 12 March 2021, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport will hold two days of public hearings in Sydney as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into approval processes for new drugs and novel medical technologies in Australia.

The committee will hear evidence from numerous stakeholders including patient advocacy groups, clinician and research bodies, and industry. Witnesses will include rare disease advocates from Rare Voices Australia, and representatives from the Medical Technology Association of Australia. ​The program for the hearings is available on the committee’s website.

The chair of the committee, Trent Zimmerman MP, said, "The inquiry has received a lot of interest with 185 submissions to date. At the public hearing, the committee will hear from stakeholders to find out how Australia’s approval systems and funding for new medicines and novel medical technologies will provide the best possible outcomes for all Australians now and into the future.

"The hearings will give the committee a better sense of the perspectives of those who are at the new medicines and medical technology coalface, from research and development all the way through to patients receiving new drugs and medical devices," Mr Zimmerman said.

Further information about the committee’s inquiry including the full terms of reference are also available at the website. Seating at the public hearing will be limited due to Covid restrictions so interested parties are encouraged to listen to the audio live streaming.

ends

NEW FIGURES released this week by the Electric Vehicle Council show Australian electric car sales stagnant "at a time when the rest of the world is hitting the accelerator hard"..

According to Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said, in 2020, there were 6,900 electric cars sold in Australia, a 2.7 percent increase from the 6,718 sold in 2019. The 2020 figures show electric cars accounting for 0.7 percent of total Australian car sales.

By comparison, electric vehicles in the EU increased their market share from 3.8 percent in 2019 to 10.2 percent in 2020. In the the UK, it was 3.1 percent in 2019 against 10.7 percent in 2020. In California, market share went from 7.6 percent to 8.1 percent. And in Norway, it rose from 56 percent in 2019 to 75 percent in 2020.

Electric Vehicle Council. Mr Jafari said the baffling Australian anomaly "needed to end".

"Australian drivers are ready to join the exciting global electric car transition, but our politicians are yanking the handbrake," Mr Jafari said.

"There's simply no sugarcoating it at this point – Australia has marked itself out as a uniquely hostile market to electric vehicles.

"We have no targets, no significant incentives, no fuel efficiency standards – and in Victoria we even have a new tax on non-emitting vehicles.

"Our governments are apparently doing everything possible to ensure Australia is stalled with its hazards on while the rest of the world zooms into the horizon.

"The good news is that given Australia's abundant natural advantages, it would only take a handful of small changes from government to get us right back on track, Mr Jafari said.

"If we follow the rest of the world and look to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, we will be rewarded with clean city air, reduced carbon impact, enhanced fuel security, and a renewed manufacturing sector."

Mr Jafari said the Victorian Government's recent move to implement a special 'tax on not polluting' was particularly baffling.

"Victoria is now doing what no other jurisdiction on earth does by discouraging people from buying electric vehicles by slugging them with a special tax," Mr Jafari said.

"When this policy idea gets pushed by the oil lobby around the world, they typically get laughed out of the room. Tim Pallas cut them a key to his office.

"The federal government’s inaction is bad, but even they’re not destructive enough to actively discourage electric vehicle uptake with a new tax."

ends